User role can be modified in user profile

Access Control Vulnerabiltiy

In today’s digital age, access control mechanisms form the backbone of secure systems, ensuring that users can only perform actions they’re authorized for. However, even well-built systems can have critical flaws that expose them to malicious attacks.

One such vulnerability that continues to haunt applications is allowing user roles to be modified in user profiles — a seemingly minor flaw that can lead to catastrophic consequences.

In most systems, users are assigned specific roles (e.g., admin, user, moderator) that dictate what resources they can access and what actions they can perform. However, when a system improperly handles access control, it might allow users to modify their role by simply updating their profile information. This oversight often stems from a lack of server-side validation and over-reliance on client-side controls.

In practical terms, imagine a basic web application where a user has the role of “customer.” The user accesses their profile page and notices that their role is set as “customer” in an HTML form field. By manipulating this field (for instance, changing “customer” to “admin”) and resubmitting the form, the system might grant them admin privileges — without verifying…